Paulo Di Canio claimed knocking Villa out the Capital One Cup would be better than sex with Madonna.

But ultimately it was Villa who were finally able to Get Into The Groove with a thrilling climax at the County Ground.

Christian Benteke’s last-gasp winner clinched it for Paul Lambert’s Premier League team after the Belgian and Gabby Agbonlahor gave them a first-half lead that was amazingly cancelled out in three manic second-half minutes by Miles Storey’s double.

After picking up fewer points than Madge’s conical bra in the past three Premier League games, progressing to the quarter-finals was a welcome boost for the claret and blue faithful.

Having helped Lambert put one Italian eccentric in his place by humbling Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City in the previous round, Benteke and Agbonlahor did it again with Di Canio at the County Ground.

The controversial Di Canio claimed his on-pitch hand gestures at the final whistle were just friendly banter and not taunts that Villa were going down and Swindon were going up.

But that was merely a footnote following a captivating 90 minutes.
Paul Lambert

Former Villa youth-teamer James Collins kept his old pals on their toes during the opening exchanges, hesitating too long from one opportunity and curling another well wide.

Villa were grateful for a vital intervention from Matthew Lowton midway through the first half when he hacked Paul Benson’s shot off the line as Swindon put pressure on the visitors.

But the Robins were to rue that missed opportunity moments later when Benteke settled Villa’s nerves with the opening goal on the half-hour mark – his second in two games following his strike in the draw with Norwich.

Stephen Ireland cantered down the left and his pinpoint cross was buried by Benteke who powered home a bullet header from close range.

Villa’s defensive injury woes worsened around the time of the goal when Chris Herd limped off with a knee problem. He was replaced by left-back Enda Stevens with Eric Lichaj moving to right-back and Lowton to the centre.

However, with Villa growing in confidence, the rest of the first-half action was concentrated in Swindon’s half.

Agbonlahor made it two on 40 minutes with Ireland again the creator. The midfield playmaker slipped an incisive ball into the Brummie striker who strode forward to unleash an unstoppable shot into the bottom right corner from outside the area.

Although his Premier League scoring drought has been rumbling on since November 5 last year, it was his third goal of this Capital One Cup campaign after a dream double in the previous round.

He felt he had been tripped by Jay McEvely on the stroke of half-time but referee Stuart Atwell waved play on before he could appeal with Andi Weimann’s volley forcing keeper Wes Foderingham into a full-stretch save.
Gabriel Agbonlahor scores

Swindon, clearly fired up by Di Canio’s team-talk at the break, tried to take the tie to Villa after the re-start. But although they delivered a series of dangerous balls into the box, it was only when Gary Roberts somehow headed wide Matt Ritchie’s cross at the far post that the disciplined Villa defence really had their hearts in their mouths.

Until Swindon sent on their teenage sub that is – then it was a different story – Miles Storey.

He got the home fans bouncing when he directed a low shot past former Robins keeper Shay Given to reduce the deficit on 78 minutes and just three minutes later took the roof off the place by brilliantly equalising with a backheel flick.

Whoops. Having put in a professional performance for most of the match, Villa were suddenly finding the tie trickier to negotiate than the ‘Magic Roundabout’ collection of five mini traffic islands near the stadium.

But they were determined they would not be among the exits.

The Swindon fans taunted the 3,000 away supporters with chants of “We’ll see you next year – Championship football, we’ll see you next year”.

And the travelling contingent must have feared the worst against a team who have won eight of their 13 ties against higher-graded opponents under Di Canio – including the Premier League scalps of Wigan and Stoke in the past two seasons.

But after Weimann rattled the post, Benteke came to the rescue in stoppage time, controlling and perfectly placing his finish after Lichaj drilled in a ball from the right.

Fittingly, the stadium DJ played Madonna’s Ray of Light before the kick-off and that is precisely what this result represents as Villa embark on a daunting November league schedule. But Villa fans won’t be reaching for the pop star’s back catalogue any time soon – not now their new ‘Oh Christian Benteke’ chant is proving such a hit.